Volunteer Ghana
National Parks & Reserves

Volunteering in National Parks and Reserves in Ghana

With a deforestation rate twice that of the rest of the world, Africa has become overly dependent on a number of tree species. However, Ghana’s national parks and reserves are helping to halt this dangerous trend. Join the uVolunteer National Parks and Reserves Project to do your part for the environment in Ghana while experiencing the country’s tropical ecosystems and wildlife.

Program Video

Choose from three locations (Kakum National Park, Shai Hills Resource Reserve or Mole National Park) where you can make a vital contribution to environmental preservation in Ghana. You will help by maintaining the grounds, clearing trails and assisting with land stewardship projects, as well as directing park visitors and raising awareness of environmental issues.

Volunteers also work behind the scenes within the administrative side of park management and contribute to research and documentation.

Your role as a volunteer

As a national parks and reserves volunteer in Ghana, you’ll help lower dangerous deforestation rates and protect the biodiversity within Ghana’s national parks and reserves. Volunteers provide hands-on assistance clearing trails, renovating and constructing facilities and contributing to land stewardship projects, while also helping with administrative duties and research.

Media-inclined volunteers may also get involved with park projects related to video creation, photography and graphic arts.

Tasks may include:

General upkeep

Renovating or constructing park facilities

Assisting park visitors and promoting the park’s tourist appeal

Office administrative work

Work schedule

National parks and reserves volunteers typically work five days per week, from Monday to Friday. Working hours are from 8am until 3pm. However, schedules and exact duties may vary depending on the park you’re based at, your qualifications, and the time and duration of your stay.

Journey to work

National parks and reserves volunteers are placed with a host family living either in the park or in a nearby village.

Closed dates

The projects are open year round.

Project Photos

Project Location

Project Reviews & Testimonials

Name: Floren Garcia

Age: 34

From: Spain

Rating:

My stay in Ghana is one I'm definitely not going to forget while I live.

Without a doubt! The activities carried out in the park varied from day to day. Some days I was busy, others not so much. The park has a camping site with tents that needed to be cleaned or repaired. That's something I spent a couple of days working on.

Despite my shyness I found it refreshingly easy to converse with them.

It did not take long before we thought of them as friends rather than hosts.
As for volunteer work, we did an odd sort of tasks in Kakum National Park ranging from tourism to cleaning up the canopy platform area.

Even though it took me a few days to get used to the food, I thoroughly enjoyed eating their local home-cooked meals as well.

My personal favorite was foofoo and light soup.We spent the first few days getting oriented and introduced to the park staff and familiarizing ourselves with the park itself. Some of the activities we took part in were cleaning up parts of the park, gardening and giving suggestions on how to improve aspects of the park.

I will take back many wonderful memories of the country and the people we lived and interacted with.

My main goal was to find an opportunity to travel abroad with my nephew, Tate, that would provide him with his first meaningful exposure to a culture outside the USA. While I let Tate choose the country, my requirements were that the trip have both strong service and educational components. After researching online over a period of weeks, it became apparent that uVolunteer fit the bill nicely.

We were kept very busy in our first few days doing whatever it is that Ghanaians do, and we had a great time doing it.

From Friday evening to Sunday afternoon, we had gone out drinking on multiple occasions, explored the bustling marketplace of Koforidua, sampled several of the local delicacies, and hiked to the beautiful Boti Falls and surrounding areas.

When I departed my home in the US for Accra I wasn't exactly sure what to expect from a culture that was very different from the one I grew up with.

I had heard that Ghanaians were known for being friendly and I wouldn't even have to wait for my plane to take off to find out this was true as my fellow passengers didn't miss a beat striking up conversations with me. From that moment I knew I was going to enjoy my time abroad.

I worked at the office helping on management, Power Point, excel, figures analysis.

I did as many safaris as possible, which is a great chance as you get to see all animals' antelopes, monkeys and especially the elephants. I was lucky to do a Bird watching Safari as well with the best bird seeker in Ghana Zackaria Ware. Everybody was extra nice with me and I very quickly found my place.

All my fears soon disappeared and looking back I can say with 108% certainty that my host family composed the BEST part of my stay in Ghana.

My host mom showed me how to cook some local dishes, which she did by hand (she even had to make the fire every day!), how to wash clothes, and how to act like a Ghanaian (you're not a true Ghanaian lady if you don't wear earrings!).

About Us

We believe that Travel is a Catalyst for Growth. We believe in education, cultural learning, youth mentoring, entrepreneurship and adventure. uVolunteer is a boutique provider of meaningful volunteer abroad placements and cultural learning trips to Costa Rica, Ghana & Thailand. Read more about us.

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